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From Sequence 04 to the end of Sequence 05, the Assassin’s Creed III environments burst into life with a vast wealth of new activities and experiences. The routes that Connor travels between narrative engagements are littered with profitable diversions, from major side quests to simple optional tasks and challenges. Where Haytham effectively travelled in a straight line between main story Memories, Connor’s path between objectives – for players who wish to enjoy as much of this world as they can – will soon come to resemble a vast and intricate web that covers all corners and regions of Boston, the Frontier, the Davenport Homestead and New York.

For this reason, using and expanding the Fast Travel network to drastically cut travel times is an essential step. Before we examine this vital system, we will first take a look at the new free running moves and abilities introduced in Sequence 04.

Advanced Free Running & Climbing

The Feathers and Trees Memory acts as a crash course in the art of free running through trees. Initially, this new feature is somewhat intimidating. Even dedicated players with years of free running experience honed through previous Assassin’s Creed games may find their customary purposeful movement punctuated by uncustomary bouts of hesitancy.

If you are joining us from the Walkthrough chapter with a sense of bewilderment, we can reassure you immediately: free running in trees becomes second nature in almost no time at all. As we discussed in the Primer chapter earlier in the guide, the key to being truly accomplished at climbing and free running in urban areas is learning to instinctively read and interpret the visual language of the world, planning each journey a few steps in advance. The same applies with free running in trees – it’s just that the “language” of these lofty paths is written in a slightly different dialect that you must first learn to parse quickly and efficiently.

While practice really does make perfect, the following visual guide to the essential “building blocks” of tree-based free run courses will help you to more readily interpret routes and move with greater confidence.

Just as barrels, crates or upturned carts might mark the beginning of an urban free run route in Boston, many tree-based courses begin with a recognizable start point. The style of tree shown here – a stump where its trunk once stood, with a thick bough extending outwards – is a typical entry point. You might also begin by running up a trunk to reach a low branch, or by leaping from another platform, such as a rock outcrop or rooftop.

Though Connor cannot climb the vast majority of tree trunks directly, the type of tree shown here has a number of small hand-holds that enable him to scale them. These tend to appear when there is a free run course above, offering a convenient entry point.

Many trees feature V-shaped sections that Connor can leap through en route from one branch to another. While Connor can use combat abilities, such as firing ranged weapons and performing air assassinations, from branches, these are generally not available when he is positioned between boughs, or while at rest in the intersection between the tree trunk and a major branch.

Some larger trees may contain more than one V-shaped position. To ascend from a V-shaped section to another at a higher elevation, tap /. This is much more convenient than realigning the camera with to climb manually.

Perhaps the hardest part of tree-based free running, at least at first, is having faith in Connor’s ability to swing around the outside of a tree trunk to reach a branch on the opposite side of a tree. If you know that there is a branch on the other side, it’s just a simple matter of holding / and to direct him into the trunk: Connor will do the rest.

Don’t worry if a branch on the opposite side of a trunk appears to be at a slightly higher or lower elevation: Connor will still perform the maneuver with great precision.

Though Connor cannot stand on thin branches, they can be used to swing between two “solid” positions on a free run course.

This screenshot shows a typical free run route through trees, using many of the different steps we’ve described in this section. As with many such courses, there is no need to release / and at any point: all you need to do is to point Connor in the appropriate direction.

A number of Viewpoints in the Frontier are situated in the upper branches of huge trees. These generally require that you jump between large branches at the base, then ascend via V-shaped sections and swing on sequences of smaller branches closer to the top to reach the official Viewpoint position. This is, of course, signposted by the customary eagle, who will take off as Connor approaches.

For a final tip as we leave the trees, note that any cliffs in the rugged Frontier can be scaled whenever you can espy recognizable hand-holds for Connor to grasp. While horizontal ledges are usually easy to spot, you should look carefully for narrow vertical crevices, as pictured here. Though it’s not immediately obvious, these enable him to ascend with ease.